“I’m here ...” President Barack Obama started to say, and before he could finish the sentence the crowd of about 4,400 at the University of Vermont went wild.

Through his four-hour touchdown in Vermont on Friday, Obama captivated audiences who were eager to bask in a rare, close-up look at the most powerful person in the world.

On stage before a sardine-packed audience at UVM’s athletic center multipurpose building, Obama took off his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves and delivered a rousing 30-minute speech.

“We will remind the world once again just what America is all about,” Obama told the crowd in an address preceded by a performance from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and introductions from Vermont politicians and local business owner Jeanne Morrissey.

He was here to raise money for his re-election campaign and — aside from roadside protesters disappointed in his presidency — was welcomed warmly.

“I was in heaven,” James Arisman of Marshfield said after seeing Obama at the UVM event with his wife, Susan Abbott, and 22-year-old son Colin.

Martha Perkins, 75, of Charlotte was among those impressed by seeing the president in the flesh. “It’s not TV this time,” she said. “He’s such a good-looking dude.”

Friday’s visit was the first to Vermont by a sitting president in 17 years, a fact Obama noted to the UVM crowd. “We decided today that we are going to reset the clock,” Obama said.

The resetting of the clock began at 11:21 a.m., as Air Force One touched down at the Vermont Air National Guard base at Burlington International Airport in South Burlington. Obama emerged from the Boeing 757 for the classic pose — a presidential wave from the top of the plane’s stairs. The plane was smaller than those usually used by the president, which was necessary, reporters traveling with Obama said, because the airport in Maine where he was headed next was too small to accommodate a larger aircraft.

Accompanied by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., whom Obama had surprised with a day-early birthday cake on the flight, Obama was greeted by about 100 selected people, including family of Vermont National Guard members.

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His visit also brought classic presidential security with it. Police patrols dotted nearby roads, halted traffic at each crossroad as the president passed and barricaded onlookers and protesters. Handlers kept the media under tight constraints.

The road to Vermont

As Obama’s 17-car motorcade passed, a smattering of Vermonters gathered in hopes of catching a glimpse. About 200 people stood quietly in front of St. Michael’s College as the president was driven up Lime Kiln Road to Vermont 15 and onto Interstate 89.

“It was over in 10 seconds,” said Rob Robinson, St. Michael’s College director of business services.

The president was headed first to the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center in South Burlington for a high-dollar fundraising luncheon.

Obama’s entrance at an exclusive 100-person gathering at 12:55 p.m. was so understated, it took a moment for the group to notice. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Jane Stetson of Norwich introduced the president. Obama delivered a shorter, more subdued version of the speech he would give a short time later at UVM.

He said the Republican Party had shifted more to the right since 2008. At least his 2008 opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, understood the need to compromise, Obama said.

“What we’re witnessing lately is fundamentally different,” he said of Republicans. “It’s about an America that just looks out for itself and not others, an America that demonizes something like climate change” and wants to “balance the budget on the backs of the poor.”

Obama did not appear to join the audience in eating lunch. He took questions from audience members who had paid $7,500 and up for tickets, but the small pool of media allowed to travel with him was not permitted to stay.

As the president moved along from the Sheraton to the nearby UVM athletic complex, protesters were waiting on the southwest corner of Spear Street and Williston Road. They swelled to about 85 people — Occupy activists, anti-war and anti-nuclear demonstrators, among others. They displayed a variety of hand-lettered signs (“Impeach Obama” and “The Emperor has no clues”) and broke into sporadic chants (“Obama, don’t lie to me, bombs don’t bring democracy”).

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The gathering was at times almost festive. Police maintained a low-key presence, and demonstrators abided by the authorities’ request to stay off the curb and keep the sidewalk clear. The chanting crescendoed as the motorcade approached and passed by at about 2 p.m., and then the crowd dispersed.

From a distance, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus lobbed this criticism via email of Obama’s visit: “Dropping into Burlington to use Vermont as an ATM for his reelection fund, the Campaigner-In-Chief is once again putting keeping his own job above relief for Vermont families. Facing rising food prices, high costs at the pump, and increasing health care premiums, Vermont families are not better off under President Obama.”

One protester, who said he goes only by the first name Frank and came to Vermont from Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York, walked alongside the line of supporters waiting to get into the UVM event with a sign decrying the influence of cash in politics.

“I would like to see the political system free of money and corporate influence,” he said, adding that he wanted to see Obama’s speech, or better yet, meet with the president. Does he have a ticket? he was asked. You need one? he replied.

Long lines and patience

Supporters, on the other hand, had tickets and patience. By 12:15 p.m., the line waiting to get through the Patrick Gymnasium doors and into the speech venue beyond snaked amusement-park-style from the metal detectors outside the front doors to an island in the circular driveway out front, took a turn around a corner and disappeared beyond sight onto the top level of the parking garage.

Champlain College sophomores Grace VonRabenstein and Annie Del Moro were eager to see a president for the first time, ahead of the first election in which they will be old enough to vote. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” VonRabenstein said of seeing a president speak in person.

Some in the crowd willingly waited in line for more than four hours, paying $44, $100 or $200 for tickets. The two events were expected to raise at least $750,000 for Obama’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

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No one was more surprised to be part of the festivities than Morrissey. She received a call from the Obama campaign Tuesday asking about the effect of the federal stimulus package on her Williston construction company, J.A. Morrissey. She came away thinking Obama was going to mention her company in his speech, and she was thrilled.

Then she received another call asking her to introduce the president.

She did, calmly delivering her remarks. Her company’s revenues dropped 50 percent during the recession, she said. “Then President Obama took office,” she said. “He immediately acted to stop the bleeding.” She called economic stimulus measures “a lifeline” for her employees, allowing her to avoid layoffs. “He knows that above all else an economy is about people, and a job is about a person’s dignity,” she said.

Afterward, Morrissey said, “It was the most surreal moment of my life.” She not only introduced the president but also had been hugged by him, had seen him close up and in person. “I don’t have sufficient vocabulary. It was profound and memorable and amazing.”

The speech

As the president took the stage, nearly every arm in the crowd held a cellphone camera to capture the moment.

His speech struck on the central themes in his quest for a second term — an ongoing economic recovery, a reworked tax system, progress in the fight against terrorism coupled with the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, the importance of education, and numerous other topics — and lamented a lack of civility and compromise in Washington and elsewhere.

“We’ve got more work to do,” the president said. “There are still too many Americans who are out there looking for work. There are still too many families who can barely afford to pay the bills or make the mortgage. We’re still recovering from the worst economic storm in generations.

Obama thanked crowd members for their support in 2008, argued he’d kept his promises, and asked for more help in 2012.

“When you decide to support a candidate named Barack Hussein Obama, that’s not a sure thing,” he said, drawing laughter. He’ll never be a perfect president, he told the crowd, but his administration’s work on the economy, health care and Iraq are the “beginning of what change looks like.“

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Obama brought his comments closer to home for Vermonters as he offered condolences for Melissa Jenkins of St. Johnsbury, who was slain Sunday. “I know that Vermont’s heartbroken so all we can do is memorialize her in a way that pays tribute to her, her students and her son,” Obama said.

Obama knew his audience. His comments about health-care reform brought applause, his references to equal pay for women were well-received, but he was even more heartily applauded when he noted the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “You don’t have to hide who you love to serve your country,” Obama said.

He promised more change. “I want to make our schools the envy of the world,” he said. He promised to use some of the money that has been spent on wars to rebuild the United States and called for those making more than $1 million a year to pay more in taxes. Republican presidents of the past did the same, he said, noting that President Abraham Lincoln built railroads and colleges even as the Civil War raged. Lincoln, he said, would be too liberal to win the Republican nomination for president, he said, making one of several digs at the Republican opposition.

“I did say back in 2008, real change — big change — it’s hard,” Obama added later. “It takes time. It takes more than a single term and more than a single president. What it takes is ordinary citizens who are committed to keep fighting and to keep pushing, and inching us closer and closer and closer to our country’s highest ideals.”

The country, Obama said, should unite.

“I hear politicians talking about values in an election year. I hear a lot about that. Let me tell you about values,” the president implored, whipping the audience into frequent applause. “Hard work, personal responsibility — those are values. But looking out for one another — that’s a value. The idea that we’re all in this together — I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper — that’s a value. The idea that we think about the next generation, and we’re taking care of our planet — that’s a value.”

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During the speech, a woman in the crowd yelled, “Love you.”

“Love you back,” Obama responded before continuing about the economy.

Obama had the love of Vermont’s top politicians too. He was preceded by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, Burlington Mayor-elect Miro Weinberger, Leahy and Gov. Peter Shumlin, along with Vermont musicians Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

Weinberger greeted the president days before his Monday swearing-in.

“It was very exciting,” Weinberger said as he left the UVM event Friday afternoon. On the tarmac at the airport, Weinberger said, he and Obama chatted about a mutual acquaintance who works at the White House.

Even Sanders, who last year had suggested the president needed a primary challenger, sung Obama’s praises. “We want President Obama re-elected,” he said, heralding his work on the economy and health care.

Appreciative audiences

At 2:54 p.m., Obama finished his remarks, waved to the crowd and walked off the stage. He turned to his left and looked at Sen. Leahy, who was giving a thumbs-up. Obama headed directly to Leahy, and the pair shook hands.

The crowd was not allowed to leave until his motorcade had passed. They didn’t seem to mind.

“I’m particularly loath to deal with crowds. I said I wouldn’t stand in line for anybody — maybe Lincoln if he came back,” said Bruce Richards of Newbury, but he said he didn’t regret standing in line for Obama. Wearing campaign pins of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, Richards said he hopes Obama joins them in historical legacy. “The jury’s still out,” he said. “My fingers are crossed.”

Shan Ko of Brandon says the president’s appearance resonated. “No other president has been through what he has been through with Congress and the economy,” she said. “He gives me hope. He gives all of us hope.”

Back at the airport, Obama made an unannounced stop at Vermont Air National Guard headquarters to meet privately with family members of Pfc. Chris Chapin of Proctor, a member of the Vermont Army National Guard who was killed by a sniper’s bullet as he helped Iraqis learn about voting near Ramadi while serving as part of Task Force Saber.

“We were expecting and hoping it would happen, that he would have time to meet with a Gold Star family,” said Lt. Col. Lloyd Goodrow, a Guard spokesman. “I believe Sen. Leahy also was trying to make sure it happened.”

Obama boarded Air Force One at 3:32 p.m. A minute later the plane lifted off the runway at Burlington International Airport, tilted over Colchester and Essex and headed east, toward Maine and another round of campaign fundraisers.